Ledesma: Bush didn't deserve his Heisman in the first place

The Southern California football team still has plenty of national championship trophies in the school’s display case.

But now there’s a bare spot in the collection of team and individual achievements where Reggie Bush’s Heisman Trophy used to reside.

The Heisman trust wasn’t the party responsible for revoking the award — not yet anyway. Rather, its removal from campus grounds earlier this week was a school decision.

Undoubtedly, it was the first step in the university’s bid to atone for the numerous athletic program violations that occurred during Bush’s tenure brought to light by an NCAA investigation.

And while future generations of Trojans fans always will remember that now empty spot as the former home of Bush’s Heisman, few will recall that it probably shouldn’t have ever belonged to him in the first place.

Call me a homer if you must, but that award should have always been adorning the display case in Austin. It would have fit nicely right next to that crystal football engraved with the words Longhorns 41, Trojans 38 — the score of the 2006 National Championship game.

Forget that because of certain rules violations Bush shouldn’t have even been eligible for the award anyway. As my old coach used to say, let’s just go watch the tape.

Texas quarterback Vince Young led the Longhorns to a perfect 12-0 record and became the first player ever to pass for 3,000 yards and run for another 1,000 in a single season. Yet, when it came time to vote for college football’s highest individual honor, he only racked up 79 first-place votes to Bush’s 784.

We can’t feel too sorry for VY, though. Because as everyone in the Lone Star State proudly remembers, our homegrown boy from Houston got his revenge not too long after at the Rose Bowl.

How could anyone have doubted that Young, not Bush, was college football’s greatest player that season, especially after the performance he put on in the final two minutes of that game? He only marched the ’Horns 56 yards downfield, capping off the drive with a spectacular 9-yard touchdown run — his third of the contest — to give Texas its fourth national championship.

I watched every second of that masterpiece. No one can convince me that Bush deserved that award over Young — not after all that.

So someone tell me again why the Heisman guys vote before the big game every year?

An injustice was done to one of college football’s greatest players that season. As it turns out, the man who robbed Young of his due recognition also was partaking in some unjust behavior under the table.

The Heisman Trophy always is handed out in twos — one to the player’s school and the other to the player himself.

Bush still has his fraudulent copy — again, for now at least. But if he has even one ounce of respect for the game left, he’ll FedEx that bad boy over to Young’s house.